Undignified Scramble

Interesting being sat here on the sidelines watching our politicians scrambling about trying avoid losing their place at the trough. Many are using the Nuremburg defence and some commentators are coming out with statements like "well, it's the system that's at fault". That's very true, it is the system at fault but ask this- Who created the system? We elect our MP's to go up to London and represent our interests, they sit there and are required to promote the bedrock upon which we as a society continue to exist and hopefully evolve. They should by default be set higher standards of integrity and their own moral compasses should have told them that it is wrong to claim for a mortgage that you have paid off, a duck pond in your home in France, an extension so your brother can live with you or a 42" plasma TV. We the electorate have a right to expect that of them, they have a duty to meet that standard. That's why they put themselves up to be our elected representative! Now, human nature being what it is there will be some that slip and I take no issue with that, I do however feel that the venal, money grabbing that has gone on under this system with not a voice of dissent, a murmur of disquiet from any of the those with their snouts firmly buried in the trough means that we need a thorough cleaning of the pig sty. Brown you numb nut call an election, call it soon and let we the public decide who deserves to stay.

The latest debacle

It just get's funnier and funnier. If you wrote it as a script for "Yes Minister" it would have been binned. Maybe reality TV does have it's place! Imagine the wife of Ken Follett, wealthy author feeling afraid and she has to get us, the tax payer to make her feel secure.

Doesn't it just warm your heart the a nurse's salary has been spent making her feel safe, or three nurse's have been used to furnish Keith Vaz's home or another way of looking at it 150000 bullet proof vests. The galling point of all of this is, they all say "it's all in the rules", does that make it right? Especially when they wrote the rules! It cannot be right to claim £25000 pa to furnish a home when a reasonable wage is less than that. Why should I pay for a Flat screen TV when I haven't bought one myself.

If I claim from work I have to show invoices and it has to be a justifiable business expense, heaven only knows that the Revenue will scrutinise it all and disallow and possibly fine me if not legitimate. MP's, we make our rules and you don't even have to show expenditure for £250 or less.

Let's just flush the whole sorry lot down the nearest drain and start again, bet Fly Blown Brown is clinging on just to milk every penny he can get before he has to call an election.

Politics

Oh how the mighty have fallen. I find it intensely amusing that the prudish Jacqui Smith has been hoisted by her own petard. She has presided over a Home Office that has introduced and attempted to introduce all sorts of rules/laws regarding the nations sexuality and hubby has been sat at home enjoying the dubious delights of porn. I wonder if she was around as he was salivating over the delights of which ever pneumatic starlet was performing, oh wouldn't it be just the icing on this cake if it turns out that it was gay porn that he was indulging in!!!! Is it a sacking offence-No but the judgment and the lack of care and attention to detail hardly meet the standards expected of a Minister of State, especially one at the heart of our legal system. Small wonder that there are so many absconding asylum seekers and illegal immigrants in the country if she can't even be bothered to check her expenses claims. That should be a sacking offence-incompetence and lack of care destine her for a career on the back benches. 22K for staying with her sister seems exorbitant as well. This government has introduced more legislation and more criminal sanctions than any other in history when you compare like with like in terms of time in office. What odds for a Labour victory next election? Brown will out on his ear and hopefully some of the sleaze buckets that inhabit the present cabinet and back benches.

Christmas and all that

Well Christmas Day is almost over and it has been a success. We invest so much into these days and they often fail to live up to expectation. All the meal came to gather at the right time, everything worked smoothly, I remembered all the bits and did sufficient vegetarian roast veggies(I know it sounds like an oxymoron but it isn't,I roast a whole batch in goose fat for the carnivores....mmmm yummy). If the meal fails or the meat is burnt then it effects the day. If the presents that have been bought don't elicit the right response from the receiver or it doesn't work, the wrong batteries have been bought or (more so these days) they are too complex for an adult to deal with and have to be handed to a tech savvy 8yo. It's all pressure on the day and when it works and you have a good, relaxing, stress free day it is really special.

Here's hoping that anyone who reads this has one of those. I also hope that it has been peaceful for all our troops deployed around the world. Keep safe ladies and gents in whatever inhospitable corner of the globe you have been deployed to. Thank you for your hard work, dedication and enabling us to sleep safer in our beds at night.

Hiatus

Haven't written to this for some time. As with many of us, reality takes over and we have to get out and earn the filthy lucre. In my quiet moments I have had pangs of guilt for not posting. It has been an eventful few months with the horrors of Mumbai, attacks in the Philippines, the Menezes trial,the credit crunch, more of our troops being killed on active service. There have also been some remarkable triumphs, the way that the population of Mumbai rallied and refused to give way to sectarian violence, the people who have refused to crumble under the strain of economic woes, the Help for Heroes organisation and many other examples of the indomitable nature of the human spirit.

The pundits seem to believe that the US economy will start to turn round mid next year and the UK will follow some 6 months later. I am sure that if the bunch of barely functional idiots that we have in charge don't actually start to do something rather than cancel public spending projects that benefit us all but especially our National Defence then the recovery will be delayed and prolonged.

I saw on US TV that one area of the economy that isn't suffering is the Sex Worker, I don't believe that for a moment. What I would imagine is that a. There will be more competition and b. People will not spend the money they used to when times were good. In my opinion the only recession and boom proof industries are Funeral directors and toilet paper manufacturers. There may be some others that are safe like alcohol, tobacco and condoms( the vices, guilty of two and an anti smoking nazi)but again like the sex worker industry people reduce consumption and go for a blended whisky rather than a single malt, a new world offering rather than a bottle of Petrus.

Here's hoping that any and all who read this have a Happy Xmas a Peaceful New Year and best of luck in weathering the economic storm.

Rants and ramblings

Normally I use this as an exercise in clearing myself all those pent up frustrations at the lunacy that pervades our lives now. I rail about the pathetic government we have leading us, the shabby treatment meted out to our troops or just to throw out some thoughts. I sat here and opened up my blog, thinking I haven't actually written anything for a while and feeling I should. I then realised that I use it as a catharsis and if I don't need that at the moment then no need to ramble or rant. I guess part of the reason why I don't need to is because I haven't been reading newspapers or watching the news too much recently. The reality is that all the issues still exist, Zimbabwe is worse now than ever, Brown and his loonies are still screwing Joe average every which way they can and twice on Sundays, our troops are still being mistreated and their trust abused, quality of life here gets worse by the day, knife crime increases and yet still I don't feel I want to rant. Is it because I feel more content in my skin, is it because I haven't been tapped into the news or is it that I am ground down by the detritus that is life in modern Britain in the "noughties". Maybe Pfizer can turn their attention from Viagra and look at something to cure the ennui bought about by the state of the nation!

Royalty

Reading the papers over the last few months has been a mixed bag for the inhabitants of Buck House. There is the scandal of the coke/sex royal, the joyriding Prince in his helicopter, Young Philips marrying a catholic who has converted to Anglicanism, Zara with Tyndall who is now due in Reading CC over Drink Drive allegation, the farce of the Diana enquiry and that silly, sad little man Al Fayad. Throw into the mix Harry trying to lead a quasi normal life as a serving officer albeit in one of the aristocratic regiments of the Household Cavalry. I know that in many eyes they are all fair game but shouldn't we, as the public simply say enough is enough, certainly we should have let Harry serve his time in the line. The so called "jolly" flights by William were nothing more than something that has always happened, the only difference is that he has been hung out to dry. Since the earliest of days of the RFC and RAF any opportunity to link personal pleasure to training flights was taken. This drivel about his trip to Afghanistan was pathetic, I wish that they could come out and prove how long ago the plans were laid for him to go there. The risk assessment alone would have taken weeks to carry out, approval from our pathetic Government another week and then Grammy and Pops had to say yea. Let's hope that the election results are catastrophic enough for Labour to divert the press to pontificating on the knives being out for Gobonastick Brown.

On the subject of elections, don't you just hate it when people hover outside the polling station and ask if they can see your polling card. The answer is no, it's my vote, everything about me when I vote is between me, the officers running the station and the ultimate outcome announced by the returning officer. For those who don't bother to vote, spare a thought for countries like Zimbabwe where, when and if you get to exercise your vote it may cost you your life if the "war veterans"(who are mostly under thirty so must have been 2 or 3 when serving)find out you voted for the wrong party. People have died for the right to vote and continue to die to exercise that right. We give it away so easily. It is especially surprising to me when a woman doesn't vote given that it is less than a century since Emily Davison was killed trying to get the vote and less than eighty years since the qualified right was abolished.